BLOG POST 3
In this unit we had to try something new, something different, using the knowledge we gathered from the lectures and our master classes. Our attention was drawn to topics such as sustainability, empathy, innovation – things we know exist, we like discussing them, but at the end we fail to exercise them in real life. So what we did now is to experiment and think about these different categories and implement them in our work – our project outcomes and hopefully to continue implementing them throughout our further projects in university and later in life.
My project was “In and outside of fashion: Sportswear. Fashion language and subcultures”. I was not too excited about it, as I never felt good at reusing other peoples work (designs, clothes). I am used to drawing and creating the whole thing all together, I am a Fashion Illustration student, and taking small bits and combining them to do something else felt terrifying. “ How can this match this when neither of the two elements was made for the other from the very beginning?”
But in the process of reusing old materials, pieces – being sustainable – Firstly, I understood that I do not need to buy new pieces of clothing constantly, for the sake of an outfit, because this outfit already exists in my wardrobe or even the wardrobe of a friend. Secondly, indeed more thought should be put in the whole process of the styling to create something new, from something old, but is only a benefit, as it teaches innovative thinking and out of the box solutions. As Nick said in Lecture three (Emerging Technologies in Fashion) “It is hard to see what is ahead, when you are looking backwards.” – but nobody said you cannot use the past to form the future and this is absolutely true for fashion, as in my opinion nothing goes out of fashion as long as you know how to present it.
Thus sitting at home, because of the lockdown, having just a small amount of my clothes with me, I just decided that I should not fear the outcome. I made one look, having only my clothes for skiing and it did not look spectacular, but I felt satisfied. It turned out that each garment can have its purpose changed at my own whim at any given moment. A certain piece can be a sports bra for one person and a cropped top for another. It turns out everything is perspective and with different people come different perspectives, this is certainly something the fashion industry is aware of, talks a great lot about, but has not yet exercised it in real life, at least not entirely.
All in all what I learned from the lectures and project and hope to continue doing later on is:
- Being sustainable (reusing) is sometimes more creative than creating from scratch.
- Respecting others and their work, acknowledging what happens around you, means you will be respected and acknowledged in return.
- Sometimes working in a group of people from different fields you can create something more, even if it is only an A2 collage.